The TTC is promising to provide better estimates after the cost of a short section of streetcar track ballooned to nearly $105 million — largely because sewer and water pipe replacements were tacked on to the original $14 million cost.

The initial estimate was simply to install 800 metres of access track on Leslie St. so streetcars could reach the new car barns being built at the foot of the street, said Toronto Transit Commission chief executive Andy Byford.

Further work revised the estimate to $35 million. Then it was decided to replace 80-year-old pipes under the street at the same time, boosting the cost to $104.7 million, Byford said.

The new track is needed so streetcars can turn from Queen St. and roll down Leslie to the new Leslie Barns streetcar storage and maintenance facility still under construction.

Work on the tracks and rebuilding the roadway is to begin soon and take two years.

An alternative route along Knox Ave. was rejected because streetcars would have to make more turns and would intrude into a residential neighbourhood.

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